New DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has revealed that Ryan Reynolds was never planning on reprising the role of Green Lantern in the DC Universe, even for director Zack Snyder. Reynolds held the starring role in the 2011 pre-DCU film Green Lantern, a critical and commercial flop that still holds a deeply rotten 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reynolds, who now holds a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the fourth-wall-breaking Deadpool, has frequently made fun of his participation in the film, even going so far as to perform a scene in Deadpool 2 where Deadpool goes back in time to assassinate the real-life Reynolds before he can agree to star in it.
On his official Twitter account, Gunn shared a post celebrating the 44th anniversary of the 1978 Christopher Reeve film Superman. In response, a fan asked about the future of Superman in the DCU, causing another fan to chime in asking about the return of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern. Gunn shared that Reynolds’ return to the role is “not a priority” for him and “even less” for Reynolds. Yet another fan added that Reynolds was going to return to star in the role for Snyder, to which Gunn responded simply, “he wasn’t.” Read the full conversation below:
Green Lantern’s DCU Future Explained
Snyder did indeed have an unrealized plan to bring a different iteration of Reynolds’ Green Lantern back into the fold of the DCU. However, that idea was scrapped long before Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran stepped into their roles last month. So far, the appearance of any form of Green Lantern in the DCU have been relegated to flashback or nightmare sequences, especially a battle scene that appears in both cuts of 2017’s Justice League.
The DCU’s updated vision of the Green Lantern has continued to languish in production hell in its various iterations. First it was conceived as a film titled Green Lantern Corps that would unite Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart. While various writers were brought on and taken off the project over the years, it failed to come to fruition and seemed to have morphed into the latest iteration, a series on Warner Bros.’ exclusive streaming platform HBO Max. Said Green Lantern series was recently retooled again in October of this year when showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith stepped down after writing a full eight-episode season, and the show was announced to be refocusing solely around Stewart’s character.
If this iteration of the show continues to develop, it is the most likely place that Green Lantern will crop up next in the DC Universe. However, even if it doesn’t, this Thanksgiving Gunn was likewise responding to fan comments on Twitter when he hinted that he has big plans for the character in the future of the franchise, though he didn’t drop any additional hints about what that might look like. Regardless, it seems beyond doubt that Reynolds’ Green Lantern Hal Jordan is not under consideration to return.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter